Chapter 1

Dongmi Continent.

Little Ganshan, Profound Truth Sect.

"The money and goods have been cleared up, but besides all the carriages and talismans of the Le Shanfang, Nephew Chen, you still need to hand over the Bai Lu Dharma Sword bestowed by Senior Sister Yan Zhen to me. Oh, right, there is one more thing, I almost forgot..."

At this moment.

Inside a cave-wall rock dwelling of the Profound Truth Sect.

A short, stout man dressed in the attire of an officer was stroking the two or three short whiskers under his chin.

He led the petite young girl in a purple shirt and skirt behind him for a few steps, smilingly found a wooden chair to sit on, and after looking around, he asked the owner of this cave dwelling kindly:

"During the last sect assembly, Senior Sister Yan Zhen won a prize of three hundred Wealth-Increasing Pills. Junior Brother Yan Ping said he saw it with his own eyes, but when organizing Senior Sister Yan Zhen's belongings, only two hundred and fourteen were found. He specifically entrusted me to say a few extra words; I wonder if you have any clues, Nephew?"

Looking up and gazing around.

The scene here could be described by the word "desolate."

Apart from miscellaneous items like the bed and desk, there were no gold, jade, or other precious ornaments, let alone the pearls, rare stones, coral, hawksbill, seven-treasure agate, and beaded necklaces rumored in the outside world.

The Officer Daoist pondered to himself.

Even the small courtyard his own father-in-law set up under Little Ganshan, hiding it from his wife and daughter, was ten times more luxurious than this.

Had someone arrived a step earlier to ransack the place?

Or was this young Daoist before him not as favored as the rumors suggested?

The Officer Daoist only glanced with doubt before dismissing the latter thought.

The youth before him wore a plain white robe without any embellishments; his tall, slender figure almost blended with the daylight. His hair was tied with a simple green wooden hairpin, and his wide robes and large sleeves were untainted by dust.

Those extremely beautiful eyes and brows always carried a biting coldness, as if they were high mountains and distant mists, forever making people feel they were visible but unreachable.

Yet, his bearing was clear and profound, like light rain on spring mountains, appearing gentle, moist, and deep.

It was no wonder that Yan Zhen, before she died, had tried every possible means to abduct this person into the Profound Truth Sect.

Not to mention women.

Even men would be captivated by his elegance for a moment.

While the Officer Daoist was astonished, his daughter, the young girl in the purple shirt and skirt, had already widened her pitch-black eyes, her face filled with irrepressible excitement and curiosity.

"Finally here again, the karma of this body—"

Chen Hang, who had been waiting for a long time, clenched his fingers, forcefully suppressing the panic in his heart, and laughed lightly as if nothing were wrong:

"The talismans of the Le Shanfang are here, but as for that Juvenile Crow carriage, the day before yesterday, it was already requested by another Chen Chen Shidi from the Officer's Room sent by Yan Ping. Uncle, you have arrived a bit late."

Chen Hang handed over the small green-white seal he had been holding in his palm for a long time.

Before the officer could reach out to take it, the girl beside him rushed forward a step ahead.

When their hands touched, Chen Hang felt nothing, but the girl in the skirt already had her cheeks flushed, and even her earlobes were a deep red.

She held the small seal against her chest but did not retreat.

With her head lowered, she seemed to want to say something more.

But before the girl could stammer out a sound.

The Officer Daoist had already jumped up and pulled her behind him with a dark face.

"I shouldn't have believed this brat's nonsense! Why bring her to see the world! When we get back, I'll have her mother scold her severely!"

He was furious in his heart, gripping the girl's wrist even tighter.

"As for the Bai Lu Sword."

Chen Hang acted as if he hadn't noticed the scene before him.

"The Bai Lu Sword is a flying sword magic treasure. I haven't even achieved Embryonic Breathing yet, let alone entered the path of the Immortal Dao; how could I possibly wield it?"

"Then, what does Nephew mean?"

The Officer Daoist glared fiercely at his daughter a few more times, wanting to raise his hand to knock her on the head, but whether out of concern for Chen Hang's presence or reluctance to strike, he raised and lowered his arm several times before giving up.

These two must be father and daughter.

Chen Hang thought.

"Since the Bai Lu Sword is not with you, could it be in the hands of other musicians in the Le Shanfang? Besides you, who else could receive such special favor?" The Officer Daoist finally turned his head to look at him, his gaze adding a bit of displeasure.

Chen Hang shook his head and said:

"That is not the case. Only when traveling outside with the carriage would Uncle Yan Zhen temporarily lend me the Bai Lu Sword to carry on my person. Once back at the sect, it would be taken back. Usually, the musicians of the Le Shanfang and I rarely see this sword."

"Oh?"

The Officer Daoist was slightly startled.

"Uncle Yan Zhen was afraid I would commit suicide when alone, so she never left sharp objects near me. Even my hairpins were sent by Daoist boys after they had ground down the tips, let alone a sword."

Chen Hang explained plainly, his voice without a ripple.

"Then... the Bai Lu Sword?"

"Before Uncle Yan Zhen was assassinated, the Jade-Piercing Boy of Lianyan Mountain had asked her for the Bai Lu Sword to protect himself." Chen Hang said lightly: "The Jade-Piercing Boy is currently eliminating demons in the North Ridge area. Not only do I know this, but Uncle Yan Zhen's father, Elder Yan, also knows. Whether it is true or false, Uncle, you can just ask when the Jade-Piercing Boy returns."

"So that's it, is it? I understand."

The Officer Daoist nodded half-believingly, and before he could ask the remaining questions, he was interrupted by Chen Hang raising his hand.

"If Uncle still wants to ask me about the Wealth-Increasing Pills, then forget it. If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext. This pill was not suitable for me to begin with. Moreover, after Uncle was assassinated, everyone present and I were all targets of Elder Yan's anger and were confined in the water prison for a hundred days. Not to mention personal property, even the long zither I carried was taken away by the brothers of the Punishment Room."

Chen Hang's eyes were deep and dark, and he said:

"If Yan Ping wants to punish me, this excuse is too clumsy. I was already injured by Xu Si and am not long for this world. Does he really feel he can't even let a dying man live?"

The Officer Daoist looked at the youth's face, which was so pale it was almost bloodless, and shook his head.

For a moment, he felt a chill, and for a moment, he rarely felt a sense of unbearable pity.

When Yan Zhen was still alive, although Chen Hang was treated as a plaything in her palm, summoned and dismissed at will, and had no freedom in this mountain, he also held a prestigious status.

Becoming the Music Director of the Le Shanfang at the age of tying up his hair.

Although it was known that this position and the entire vast Le Shanfang were specially established by Yan Zhen to please Chen Hang, no one dared to say a word.

Just because Yan Zhen's biological father, Yan Feichen, was not only the head of the three great elders of the Profound Truth Sect.

His cultivation was that of a High-Gong Dharma Master who had already established his Dao foundation and opened his Purple Palace.

Driving clouds, summoning lightning, flying off the ground, turning iron into gold, and so on.

In this realm, these were all just minor paths.

If he could go a step further to comprehend the Cave-Mystic and form the Golden Core, within the vast Dongmi Continent, he could be called a True Person.

With such a background, before Yan Zhen passed away, Chen Hang could act recklessly if he wanted to.

Based on Yan Zhen's favor for him.

In this vast Little Ganshan Profound Truth Sect, there were really few who could stop him.

It was a pity that Yan Zhen died suddenly, ambushed and killed by the West Sea loose cultivator Xu Si on her way back from visiting friends. One sword strike obliterated her spirit, and she couldn't even seek reincarnation.

The group of attendants was also affected by this battle, and more than half of the forty people died.

Although Chen Hang survived by luck, his body was struck by Xu Si's true qi, and he had to endure the torture of cold poison every day, steaming his internal organs.

Even so.

He was still punished by Yan Feichen afterward, confined in the water prison for a hundred days, and his injuries were compounded.

By today, he couldn't even keep his position in the Le Shanfang, and his seal and carriage had to be handed over to the Officer's Room for inventory and registration.

With things going back and forth like this.

Even someone who didn't understand the ways of the world knew that Chen Hang was not what he used to be...

"If Senior Sister Yan Zhen were still alive, how would the Daoists of the Punishment Room dare to demand bribes from you, and who in the sect would dismiss you from your position in the Le Shanfang? Now, are they even going to take away a zither?"

Recalling the past, the Officer Daoist sighed endlessly, and the words he was already too lazy to say were left unsaid.

The so-called Wealth-Increasing Pill matter was originally a trumped-up charge Yan Ping had begged him to fabricate for Chen Hang.

Coming here today, he realized that Yan Ping had actually used means to snatch the most valuable Juvenile Crow carriage in this cave dwelling first, not even leaving him a drop of oil.

Thinking of Yan Ping asking him to do things without any filial respect, the Officer Daoist didn't want to wade into this muddy water even more.

"It is my duty as ordered by the sect to collect the seal and play the villain, but this time I have offended you."

After politely performing a Daoist salute to Chen Hang.

He caught a glimpse of his daughter's inexplicably shy and timid expression.

The Officer Daoist felt a sudden, nameless fire rise in his heart. He snatched the green-white seal the girl was holding and verified it with his true qi.

Seeing that the spiritual light emitted by the seal was correct, he walked away quickly.

"Wait."

Chen Hang suddenly called out to stop him.

"I, my clan brother—"

Recalling the face in the memories of this body, Chen Hang frowned and asked:

"His corpse, I wonder where the sect has placed it?"

"Clan brother? Wait, are you talking about the one who brought you up the mountain with Senior Sister Yan Zhen?" The Officer Daoist was stunned, then suddenly realized:

"Him? He was placed in the righteous villa under Little Ganshan. There are people specifically guarding it. Does Nephew want to take his corpse back to your hometown?"

"Before he died, he specifically entrusted me to bury his corpse in our clan land. Let it be as he wished."

"Nephew has high elegance indeed!"

The Officer Daoist praised, and just as he was about to leave again, his peripheral vision caught Chen Hang bowing and performing a salute.

Under those wide sleeves.

The red rope ornament tied to his wrist was revealed.

"It's actually this item! Isn't this the talisman for going to the Earth Abyss? This child has such great courage!"

The Officer Daoist's heart jumped violently.

Ignoring his daughter's probing gaze and faint struggle.

The Officer Daoist laughed dryly, pulled her like a rabbit, and didn't say much more.

After leaving the cave dwelling, he wrapped the two of them in true qi and turned into a streak of golden flame, soaring into the sky.

In an instant, he plunged into the clouds and disappeared without a trace.

"Finally gone. I shouldn't have shown any flaws, right?"

Seeing the two finally leave, Chen Hang felt a little settled in his heart, and his tightly wound spirit relaxed a bit.

Fortunately, the one who came was someone not very familiar with this body.

Although Chen Hang had accepted the remaining memories, in some subtle details, his every move would inevitably be noticed as unusual by those close to him.

However.

If one were to talk about those close to him.

Besides the deceased female crown Yan Zhen.

In the Little Ganshan Profound Truth Sect, this body didn't seem to have anyone else who could be considered close?

Chen Hang didn't think much more and pinched a seal.

The cave walls on both sides rumbled, and soon they joined together, closing the entrance as if it had been naturally formed.

"Immortal Dao, Immortal Dao..."

Chen Hang sat on the meditation cushion, looking at the empty stone cave dwelling, and pondered.

After struggling on a hospital bed in the modern world for six years, abandoned by his parents, and finally dying desolately on the eve of New Year's Eve, did he actually borrow a body to be reborn into this youth of the same name?

This Immortal Dao world, which was completely different from the previous one and in its prime.

"Here... can I seek longevity?" Chen Hang lowered his eyelashes, his thoughts surging like a tide for a moment.

But before he could think further.

The coldness that suddenly burst from his heart brutally interrupted all his thoughts.

The erupting cold air bound him like a gauze garment from the inside out, spreading from his internal organs to his skin, every surge carrying a raw, cold, and excruciating pain that pierced his skin and bones!

"Why is it acting up again!"

Chen Hang's expression changed violently, and he suddenly vomited black blood uncontrollably, his ten fingers digging hard into the hard ground, countless blue veins surging on his neck.

The indescribable twisting pain seemed to become a bit stronger with every breath, the smell of blood rushing up from his throat, and for a moment, his internal organs felt like they were burning and being needled.

It wasn't until dozens of breaths later that the coldness slithered back silently like a hidden snake, as if it had never happened.

At this time, in this cold winter weather, his forehead and back were already soaked with sweat.

"Xu Si, Cold Battle True Qi."

Chen Hang slowly supported his back from the ground, blood beads rolling down from his torn fingers, making a sound like paper tearing:

"Living two lives, still unable to escape being plagued by illness, truly absurd."

He closed his five fingers, subconsciously holding an object in his palm from the pouch at his waist.

The warm, transparent, and smooth touch transmitted from his hand made his heart relax, as if all distracting thoughts had been cleared away.

"Golden Cicada, I didn't expect you to come to this world with me and still be able to manifest miracles. Truly fortunate."

Chen Hang spread his hands, staring at the translucent, exquisite cicada-shaped jade carving in his palm.

"However, in my current situation, where should I go?"

Gently clenching the jade carving he had accidentally picked up in a stream in his previous life and which had inexplicably followed him to this Immortal Dao world after his death, Chen Hang pondered:

"Also."

"The entanglements regarding this body are really troublesome..."